crossing lines
by PockyGirl357
Summary: When the Whammy's kids are called to help with the investigation, Enat might have a way to solve the case without anyone dieing. T for violence and girl/girl content.
1. Chapter 1

I'm going to try writing a multi chapter story so let us begin!

I sat in silence as I absorbed the article in front of me.

I was exhausted and stressed but the words on the page did little to sooth me. Setting down the latest issue of **_Asahi Shimbun_****I took a sip of my coffee and glanced at the stack of ****newspapers on the desk. One from Tokyo, London, Moscow, Berlin, New York, and Paris. All saying the same basic thing.**

**It had started months ago with L leaving for a case in Japan with Watari. As per usual, no details were released to the students about the case and no one was concerned, it was ****_L _****after all. We all assumed that the case would be closed within a few weeks and L would return home for a bit before going off to solve ****_another_**** case in some f****oreign country. Then Lind L. Tailor had died of a heart attack during a public broadcast in Japan. At that point, Whammy's House sunk into a state of controlled distress.**

**Roger could only keep the information from us for so long. Word that a faceless killer known only as "Kira" circulated through out the orphanage and rooted unease within the children.**

**Some were certain that L would catch Kira and put and end to it. Others were still plagued by doubt, in there idol.**

**Now I spent the early mornings (I had made a nasty habit of going to bed at two and getting up at five) scanning news papers from around the world to try to gauge the public's opinion of Kira of the world at large.**

**Some had an over all theme that was either pro or against Kira where as others were completely neutral. What scared me the most was the slow climb in the number of articles that were pro Kira.**

**Slowly dragging a hand through my bright orange and annoyingly curly hair I quietly padded over to the second bed in the small dorm.**

**I kneeled down next to the bed and took a moment to watch the sleeping girl.**

**Maki was my charge and I was her mentor. After a bio terrorist group had stolen a deadly virus from a lab in Japan, they had taken Maki to use her as a carrier for the virus and killed her father. L had been able to put a stop to it and she was brought to Whammy's. She soon rose above her pears and secured a place as the first member of the fourth generation, I was in the third.**

**Getting up as quietly as I could I set a piece of chocolate strawberry cheese cake and a glass of chocolate milk on the night stand along with a note that said-**

**_Happy birthday Maki!_**

**_E~_**

**She was turning nine today. Just five years younger than myself.**

**I threw on a pair of black cargos, a dark blue long-sleeved shirt and a pair of running shoes, then I slipped into the deserted halls and wandered down stairs.**

**As I walked past the playroom on the first floor, I said a quick greeting.**

**"Morning Near." I said.**

**"Good morning Enat." Was his robotic reply.**

**Near had even stranger sleeping habits than mine….In fact I don't know if ever sleeps!**

**He was the smartest kid at the Orphanage. He got the top marks on the hardest tests and first in line to surpass L. **

**He sat in the middle of a circle of carefully placed dominos with scruffy with hair and over-sized white pajamas he gave off the impression of being a board kid. It was hard to believe he was the same age as me.**

**Destination in mind I walked out of the dorms and strolled past grey brick school buildings and over lush mowed lawns to the aviary. **

**The aviary at first appeared to be a large green house with a domed roof but as you got closer, it was more like a giant birdcage with 1/3 of it covered in ivy.**

**Inside was an array of native and exotic plants and flowers on slightly raised islands giving it the vague feeling of a forest. **

**I glanced up at the hanging planters, watching birds swoop in between them as I walked towards the sound of water.**

**Eventually I found Linda slumped over in a sitting position on the edge of a fountain in front of an easel****, paintbrush hanging loosely in between her ring and index finger. **

**As I got closer to her, I realized that she was fast asleep and let out a heavy sigh. Typical.**

**"Hey sleepy head" I said gently as I shook her shoulder. Looks like she spent the whole night painting. She was a gifted artist.**

**Her mentor Wedy had instilled her with a love for the fine arts. Wedy now traveled the world as world-class art thief, when Linda would ask why she stole things she would say "I'm trying to find something as beautiful as your work, but it seems impossible!"**

**It's strange how different her mentor was from mine.**

**"Bugger off" She mumbled and let the paintbrush fall from her loose grasp.**

**I stood back a little and waited for her to fully wake up and notice me.**

**She groggily lifted her head and looked at me, then smiled.**

**"So ya **caught me eh Carrot Top?"

"I told you not to call me that! And I understand your artistic drive but, you've got to sleep!" I shouldn't let her keep doing this, it's not healthy. Then again, who am I to say?

"Awwww! Did I worry you?" She said in a cheery tone that she knew got under my skin.

Doing my best not to show my agitation I scowled and said.

"I know better than to worry about you."

"Oh come off it!" She laughed, shaking out her brown, pageboy hair.

We were both interrupted by two digital pings coming from our pockets.

Glancing at our cell phones, we see that Roger had sent out an up date on the Kira case. (He thought it best to only give updates to the current generation members)

The message said that L had narrowed it down to one suspect and he didn't think the Kira case would go on much longer.

I think this gave us both hope that L would come home safe.

AN: I now it's slow but, I'll introduce other characters later.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: YES! I just got out of summer school! My mom made me go because she thought it would be helpful. She was way off! It was like corporate team building mixed with group therapy! The only good thing that came out of it was that I met these two amazing girls who are so kind!

On with the Fic!

-oo0oo-

Later that evening we were all gathered in our commons room to celebrate Maki's birthday.

"we" being the twenty-six members of the third generation and the other charges.

Our dorm building was in the center of the campus, facing the north side of a large courtyard. The school was laid out with buildings laid around the courtyard and going outward, with a net work of sidewalks connecting them. The buildings that surrounded the center courtyard were all dorms. One for the boys, girls, ours, and the staff.

Everyone was scattered around the room with some sprawled out on the plush sofas and armchairs and others sitting on the carpet in front of the TV.

I watched as Maki talked with the five other charges next to Matt as he destroyed digital enemies on screen.

Xanders handed the first of many presents to Maki.

"Happy B-day Maki." He said.

Most kids at Whammy's didn't make a big deal out of birthdays but we tended to dote on our charges.

Throughout the evening, She received an array of books and small trinkets, even a hand written guide on how to hack computers from Matt.

When I glared at him, he said, "Kids gotta learn some time" and brushed me off.

Matt was pretty laid back and by far the best hacker I knew. He's usually just playing video games or hanging out with Mello whenever I see him yet he's third in line to succeed L. Maybe he studies in secret or it just came naturally to him.

Speaking of Mello where is he?

I hadn't seen him all day and he didn't come to the party.

"And now! For the Pièce de résistance!" Linda announced with a dramatic flourish.

She pulled a tall, flat, rectangular package wrapped in brown butcher paper out from behind one of the armchairs.

Maki hugged Linda and eagerly ripped off the paper to reveal a portrait of me and Maki.

It depicted the both of us in our formal uniforms, with Maki sitting on a plush armchair looking sweet and innocent and I was painted With my hand resting on the back of the chair with my head tilted towards Maki, looking almost motherly. If you were looking for it, you could see a gothic letter M in the reflection of one of the pearl buttons on Maki's blouse and a letter E disguised as a ginger curl hanging by my ear.

"You've out done yourself this time Linda." I laughed.

"Thank you thank you thank you! It's beautiful!" Maki was jumping up and down while hugging Linda.

I glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost eleven.

"OK. Time" I said with finality.

"Awwwwwwwww but E!" Maki looked at me pleadingly.

"a little help Linda?" I asked.

"Yes ma'am" she said, giving me a mock salute. Maki quickly copied her and they both marched in line in the direction of the dorms.

As the rest of the kids started to leave, I took the painting and walked towards the entrance hall. Linda had said that she had marked a spot to hang it earlier that day.

I found the spot in the hall with a lone nail sticking out of it and tried to lift it up.

"Damn." I muttered. Linda had put it up to high and I couldn't reach.

"Need some help?"

I turned and saw Mello as he set some thing down and took the painting out of my hands. He was able to hang it, him being a head taller than me.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Sorry I couldn't celebrate with the rest of you, I got caught up in something." He apologized. We weren't exactly friends but we got along OK. He had a competitive streak a mile long and a burning inferiority complex that only really showed around test season.

"I understand."

He leaned down to pick up whatever he was carrying before he helped me, it was actually a pile of stuff.

"Take these." He said.

He handed me a cardboard box sealed with packing tape, a black, canvas messenger bag, a plane envelope, and a flash drive.

"The package is from L to Maki, the bag is to her from me, the letter is for you, and the flash has all the information on it for your next case."

"Thanks" I said, trying to balance it all in my arms.

We went to our respective dorms, exchanging a quick "Good night."

When I got back to my dorm, Maki was in bed and Linda was sitting at my desk.

"What's with all the news papers?" She asked.

"It's nothing Linda" I know she knew better but, I also knew she wouldn't pry.

I saw suspicion flash through her eyes before she wrapped her arms around my shoulders and pulled me closer. She kissed my fore head, and I could feel her lips form a smile.

"Night ginger." She whispered.

I loosely snaked my arms around her waist and buried my head in the crook of her neck.

"Night Picasso." I murmured.

After Linda went to bed, I set the bag and package at the foot of Maki's bed with the rest of her presents and pulled out a silver ring from my desk drawer. It was a plane silver band with an M engraved in it. I had one just like it on my right ring finger with an E on it.

My mentor had given it to my on my birthday, and I knew the ring would be too big for her now but it would fit on her thumb.

I set the ring on the nightstand and went back to my desk.

I'll read the letter in the morning, I thought pushing it to the side.

I plugged the flash drive into my laptop.

It was a disappearance. Naomi Misora had gone missing days after her fiancé, Ray Penber, along with the other twelve FBI, agents had been killed by Kira on the twenty-seventh of December. His death was the only one captured on film by a security camera at the train station.

Misora had worked under L once before on the LA Locked Room Killings, shortly before her retirement and apprehended Beyond Birthday on August twenty-second.

This case had me taken aback. Roger didn't let us near anything involved with the Kira investigation. Sure, he gave us some un-solved cases to keep us sharp but never anything linked directly to Whammy's or something L was working on. Moreover, why would he give _me _the case of the person who chough B? He was my mentor. Did he know how this would affect me?

But wait. I don't know if this case came from Roger. Mello had given it to me.

Mello….that's it.

I'd herd that he would play cruel jokes on some of the kids when things got to quiet.

To plague me with a reminder that my mentor was gone, locked away in a high security asylum for life, and having me solve the disappearance of the woman who put him away…was incredibly cruel.

I healed no animosity for Naomi, I admired and respected her but, to dwell on the subject hurt too much.

I'll solve the case platonically I decided.

I couldn't let him see that it got to me that would just be admitting defeat.

And I never go down without a fight.

-oo0oo-

A/N: Big thanks to my first reviewer! The feedback really means a lot to me!

If anyone wants, I will draw a pic of Maki and Enat like the painting and put the link in my profile.


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